Remember that one day when you could wake up without an alarm? When you would get your favorite bowl of cereal and sit between the hours of 8 and 12? This is a blog dedicated to the greatest time of our childhood: Saturday mornings. The television programs you watched, the memories attached to them, and maybe introducing you to something you didn't realize existed. Updated every weekend.
Best known for playing Shirley in Laverne & Shirley, which
she reprised for the first season of the animated spin-off, Laverne & Shirley
in the Army, she also played Gerri Poveri in an episode of The Magic
School Bus.
LAVERNE & SHIRLEY IN THE ARMY /
LAVERNE & SHIRLEY WITH THE FONZ (ABC, October 10,
1981-November 13, 1982) Hanna-Barbera
Productions, Paramount Network Television
Created by Garry Marshall, Lowell Ganz and Mark Rothman, Laverne &
Shirley was the first spin-off of his popular sitcom Happy Days. The
series centered on the titular characters, Laverne DeFazio (Penny Marshall) and
Shirley Feeney (Cindy Williams), roommates who lived in 1950s Milwaukee, Wisconsin and worked
together as bottle-cappers at the fictional Shotz Brewery; trying to scrape by
in life and love. Laverne was a tough-talking, sarcastic tomboy from Brooklyn
who always wore the letter “L” on her clothing (an idea from Marshall to help
remind audiences which character she was), while Shirley was perky, positive, a
bit meek and overly sensitive, leading her to overact frequently. Garry had
stated in interviews that the series was essentially an extension of the
dynamic between Lucy (Lucille
Ball) and Ethel (Vivian
Vance) from I Love Lucy.
The Fonz and Richie meeting Laverne & Shirley on Happy Days.
The
characters made their debut in the Happy Days season three episode “A
Date with Fonzie”, where resident cool cat Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzarelli (Henry
Winkler) attempted to help his friend, Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard), get over being dumped
by his long-time girlfriend by setting up a date with a couple of girls from
his little black book. Their appearance made an impression and ABC approached them about starring in their own
series. Marshall was receptive, but Williams was more interested in focusing on
her budding movie career. Then-ABC casting executive Michael Eisner recast Shirley with
Liberty Williams (no
relation) and a few scenes were shot to present to the network. However,
Liberty just didn’t have the same chemistry as Cindy, and the Marshall siblings
managed to convince Cindy to do the series. The scenes were reshot with Cindy,
Eisner “lost” the original film and presented the reshoots to the network, and
the series was greenlit.
From top: Lenny, Squiggy, Carmine, Edna and Frank make up Laverne & Shirley's group.
Joining the
girls was Laverne’s Italian immigrant father, Fabrizio “Frank” DeFazio (Phil Foster), who ran a
combination bowling alley/pizza parlor where the girls frequently hung out;
Carmine Ragusa (Eddie Mekka),
Laverne’s high-school sweetheart and on-again, off-again love interest who was
a former boxer-turned-dance instructor; and their goofball greaser neighbors Leonard
“Lenny” Kosnowski (Michael
McKean) and Andrew “Squiggy” Squiggman (David Lander), which were
created by the actors in college and were written into the show by them when
they were hired as writers and consultants. Joining in the second season was
five-time-divorced landlady Edna Babish (Betty Garrett), who would end
up marrying Frank. For a time, some of the Happy Days characters would
cross over into the series and vice versa.
Laverne &
Shirley debuted on ABC on January 27, 1976, running for 8 seasons. By its
third, it had become the most-watched program according to Nielsen
ratings. The show’s theme, “Making Our Dreams Come True”
written by Charles Fox and
performed by Cyndi Grecco,
became a top
20 hit. Despite all that success, and the fact that the two women claimed
to be close friends, the set was a constant battleground between them over
things like who got more and better lines. For the sixth season, it was decided
to move the setting to Burbank, California
in order to allow for greater guest-star potential and to open up potential
storylines of Laverne and Shirley looking to get into showbusiness (the stars
were against this, feeling that the show would lose its gritty urban feel).
Laverne and Shirley became gift wrappers at a department store, Frank and Edna
managed a Texas barbecue restaurant, Carmine delivered singing telegrams while
looking for acting work, and Lenny and Squiggy started a talent agency. Two new
characters were added: Rhonda Lee (Leslie Easterbrook), a
stereotypical dumb, voluptuous blonde who was trying to make it big in
Hollywood, and Sonny St. Jacques (Ed
Marinaro), a stuntman who was also the girls’ landlord (he was quickly
written out, however). The series also experienced a time jump of two years,
planting them in 1965 at the start of the Burbank episodes.
A major
shake-up occurred for the series’ final season when Williams had gotten married
and became pregnant. An issue arose with her contract when the studio wanted
her to work on her due date, which she refused. Unable to come to an agreement,
Shirley was only seen for two episodes before being written out as having gone
to live with her new husband on his Naval base. Williams ended up filing
a lawsuit against Paramount for
attempting to force her out of the show after previously agreeing to work her
pregnancy into it. It was settled out of court. In the meantime, Marshall was
left to headline the series alone, with her character now working for an
aerospace company. Ratings fell, but the series still did respectably well
enough to warrant another season. However, Marshall hadn’t even wanted to do
the eighth and insisted she’d only do another if she got a significant raise
and production was moved to New York. An expensive proposition, ABC passed and
let the series end.
Laverne & Shirley in their army fatigues.
As the
series was going on, Paramount Network
Television was making moves to further cash in on the success of the Happy
Days series of programs by expanding to a younger audience on Saturday
morning. In 1980, the studio partnered with Hanna-Barbera Productionsto produce The
Fonz and the Happy Days Gang, which saw Fonzie, his new anthropomorphic
dog Mr. Cool (Frank Welker), and two of his friends being whisked away across
time in a malfunctioning time machine. Paramount expanded that arrangement to
include an animated spin-off of Laverne & Shirley.
Sgt. Squeally in charge.
Laverne
& Shirley in the Army (only titled Laverne & Shirley on
screen) debuted on ABC on October 10, 1981, with Marshall and Williams
reprising their roles. The premise of the series was based on the fifth season
episode “We’re in the Army, Now”, where Laverne and Shirley had enlisted in the
Army and determined that military service
wasn’t for them. Keeping on with that mindset, the animated Laverne and Shirley
did what they could to try and get out of difficult assignments or be
furloughed in exotic locations. Unfortunately, their direct supervisor, an
anthropomorphic pig named Sgt. Squeally (Ron Palillo), was always breathing
down their necks; ready to report the slightest infraction to his
superior, Sgt. Turnbuckle (Kenneth Mars). Meanwhile, Laverne and Shirley just
bumble their way through espionage, mad scientist schemes and top-secret
government secrets. The girls were stationed at Camp Fillmore, which happened
to share the name of the high school where the sitcom’s main cast went. None of
the sitcom’s other characters appeared in the cartoon.
A fishy situation.
For the 8-episode
second season, the show was renamed Laverne & Shirley with The Fonz as
Fonzie and Mr. Cool were integrated into the cast following the conclusion of
their own cartoon. The two of them served as mechanics in the base motorpool.
As production on the season coincided with Williams’ departure, she was
replaced in the cartoon by Lynne Marie Stewart. The season and reruns of the
first were aired alongside the third Happy Days animated spin-off, Mork
& Mindy, in a block called theMork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz
Hour. The series was written by Duane
Poole and Tom Swale, who
also served as story editors. Characters were designed by Ruben Aquino, Curtis Cim, Debbie Hayes,
Don Morgan
and Lew Ott.
Hoyt Curtin and Paul DeKorte handled he music.
The Fonz bringing some cool to the Army.
Unlike with
The Fonz and the sitcom, not much merchandise was released for In
the Army. A pencil-by-numbers
set containing 6 pictures and 6 color pencils was made, and in 2019 CBS Home Entertainment
released the complete
first season as a manufacture-on-demand DVD.
EPISODE GUIDE:
Season 1:
“Invasion of the Booby Hatchers” (10/10/81) – After
accidentally hijacking a secret army rocket, the girls end up captured by
invading aliens.
“Jungle Jumpers” (10/17/81) – A parachute jump lands the
girls on a jungle island caught between a local tribe and a giant ape.
“Naval Fluff” (10/24/81) – The girls are assigned to the
Navy as enemy spies plan to attack their ship.
“April Fools in Paris” (10/31/81) – A furlough in Paris is
anything but relaxing as the girls end up with the wrong suitcase containing
plans for missiles.
“I Only Have Ice for You” (11/7/81) – The girls attempt to
transfer to the entertainment unit only to have Squealy send them off to
Antarctica where they find the Army occupied by a mad scientist.
“When the Moon Comes Over the Werewolf” (11/14/81) – The
girls and Squealy end up on an island where they discover a mad scientist’s
plot to turn everyone into werewolves via a spray.
“Bigfoot” (11/21/81) – The girls can’t convince Turnbuckle
that they’ve seen Bigfoot.
“Two Mini Cooks” (11/28/81) – Another foul-up lands the
girls on kitchen duty.
“Super Wacs” (12/5/81) – The girls sign up as players in the
Army vs. Navy basketball game to get out of their duties only to discover
practice is much harder.
“Meanie Genie” (12/12/81) – The girls end up fining the
bottle of a grumpy genie.
“Tokyo-Ho, Ho” (12/19/81) – A mad scientist plots to steal
an earthquake machine using an android duplicate of a General.
“The Dark Knight” (12/26/81) – Shirley hits her head and
awakens with Laverne in the Middle Ages where they must battle an evil knight.
“Super Duper Trooper” (1/2/82) – An evil mastermind kidnaps
the Army’s football teams in order to use their strength to power his robot.
Season 2:
“The Speed Demon Get-Away Caper” (9/25/82) – The girls and
Squealy set out to clear Fonz’s name for car theft.
“Swamp Monsters Speak with Forked Face” (10/2/82) – The
girls and company head out to obtain photographic proof of a swamp monster’s
existence.
“Movie Madness” (10/9/82) – The girls impersonate stuntmen
in order to meet the star of the film being shot at the base.
“One Million Laughs B.C.” (10/16/82) – The girls end up
accidentally traveling back to prehistoric times.
“The Robot Recruit” (10/23/82) – A robot is sent to the base
to sabotage the military games and the girls get the blame.
“All the President’s Girls” (10/30/82) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“Laverne and Shirley and the Beanstalk” (11/6/82) – NO
SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“Raiders of the Lost Pork” (11/13/82) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
While having a long career as an actor and director, Marshall was primarily known for her role of Laverne DeFazio in the hit sitcom Laverne and Shirley. She would reprise that role for the show's animated spin-off, Laverne and Shirley in the Army.
This weekend, we continue our 3 year anniversary celebration.
As we celebrate, we figured we'd also take the opportunity to celebrate the various other programs enjoying anniversaries this year (at least at an interval of 5). Some we've covered, some we'll get to covering sooner or later, but all of them represent Saturday morning. For this installment, we recognize those shows turning 35. Yeah, let that sink in--you first saw these programs 35 years ago.
Take a walk down memory lane with us, and feel free to share your memories in the comments, or over on our Facebook group or Facebook page, or on Twitter @SatMForever. We'd love to hear from you!
Now, without further ado, join us in celebrating...
Before Robin Williams
became a household name, he was a hyperactive alien who sat on his head.
Mork with Richie and Fonzie at Arnold's.
The retro 1950s
sitcom Happy Dayswas entered into the world of science fictionby having an alien attempt to abduct Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard) only to be saved by
the show’s most popular character, the Fonz (Henry Winkler). Creator Garry Marshall cast Williams in
the role of Mork from Ork almost immediately after Williams sat on his head at
the audition (a move that was worked into the character), stating that he was
the only alien to audition for the role. The season five episode “My Favorite
Orkan” was initially planned to be an elaborate dream sequence, but when the
character proved to be popular they re-edited the ending to have Mork wipe the
memories of the experience from everyone’s minds. Mork’s creation was inspired
by director Jerry Paris’ previous
series, The Dick Van Dyke Show. In particular, the episode “It
May Look Like a Walnut” which featured a dream with an alien encounter.
Mork (and Williams)
was given his own show in Mork &
Mindy, which was set in present day Boulder, Colorado. Mork was assigned by
his unseen and long-suffering superior, Orson (Ralph James), to travel to Earth
and study human behavior (as well as get rid of Mork who was a practitioner of
humor, which was forbidden on Ork). Mork arrived in an egg-shaped spacecraft
and eventually met and befriended Mindy McConnell (Pam Dawber), who allowed him
to move into her attic. The series focused on Mork’s attempts to assimilate into
and understand human behavior while his own Orkan customs tended to get in the
way (thanks in part to the manic and improvisational comedic stylings of
Williams). Mork’s greeting of “Na-nu na-nu” and expletive declaration of
“shazbot” became popular sayings outside of the show.
Mork, Mindy and their little bundle of aging comedian.
The sitcom debuted on
ABC on September 14, 1978 and eventually
outperformed both Happy Days and its
other successful spin-off, Laverne & Shirley. The network attempted to use the
show’s popularity in a bit of counter-programming against the competition and
moved it to a new timeslot. They also attempted to attract a younger
demographic by giving the theme song a disco aesthetic, dropping the characters
of Mindy’s father, Frederick (Conrad Janis), and his mother-in-law, Cora (Elizabeth Kerr) and replacing
them with new ones, and changing the focus to the developing romance between
Mork and Mindy. These changes, however, proved detrimental to the series and it
suffered a dramatic drop in ratings. For the third season, it was moved back to
its original timeslot and Fred and Cora were reinstated in an attempt to bring
the show back to basics. When that failed, wilder ideas were pushed in order to
make full use of Williams’ talents. ABC reluctantly renewed the show for a
final season in which one of Williams’ idols, Jonathan Winters, was added as Mork
and Mindy’s adult child, Mearth (Orkans age in reverse), and numerous special
guest-stars made appearances. But, the show’s ratings continued to plummet. Even
though it ended in 60th place in the ratings, it certainly helped to
launch Williams’ long and varied career.
Fred, Eugene, Caruthers, Doing, Mork, Mindy and Hamilton.
Encouraged by the
show’s earlier success and furthering their attempt for a younger demographic,
ABC commissioned an animated version of the show for their Saturday morning
line-up. ABC had done so previously with The Fonz and the Happy Days Gangand Laverne
& Shirley in the Army. The premise of the animated Mork & Mindy was largely the same as its parent show, except
both Mork and Mindy were de-aged to teenagers attending high school run by
Principal Caruthers (Stan Jones). Williams, Dawber, Janis and James all
returned to voice their respective characters (the first of many voice-over
credits for Williams to come), and Eugene, Mork’s child friend from the live
show’s first season, returned voiced by Shavar Ross. The snobbish bully
Hamilton DuPont, Jr. (Mark L. Taylor) was introduced as a villain-type, trying
to win over Mindy when not causing trouble for others. The character of Cora
made no appearances. Mork was given a pet to accompany him on his mission: a
pink, six-legged dog-like creature named Doing (Frank Welker). Of course, while
Mork was still bizarre by Earth standards, his antics were comparatively toned
down due to the limitations of animation and lack of room for the improvisation
that made the character stand out.
This promotional art for the series was the only time the characters ever met.
The animated Mork & Mindy was featured on ABC’s Saturday Morning Pac Preview Partyhosted by Dick Clark
the night before its debut on September 25, 1982; four months after its live
counterpart was cancelled. It was aired alongside the second season of Laverne & Shirley in the Army, which
was renamed Laverne & Shirley with
the Fonz after the characters of Fonzie (Winkler) and Mr. Cool (Welker)
were added to the cast upon the cancellation of Happy Days Gang. Both shows were given the blanket title of The Mork & Mindy/Laverne &
Shirley/Fonz Hour, with the introduction largely focused on establishing
the Mork cartoon.
“Who’s Minding the Brat?” (9/25/82) – Mork babysits the principal’s
daughter, which leads her to accidentally be changed into a Cave Ork.
“The Greatest Shmo on Earth” (10/2/82) – Mork, Mindy and Eugene have
to rescue Doing from an evil circus ringmaster.
“To Ork or Not to Ork” (10/9/82) – Mork attempts to learn about love
from Eugene while Mindy and Hamilton are cast in the school play: Romeo & Juliet.
“Orkan Without a Cause” (10/16/82) – Feeling lonely and neglected,
Mork joins a motorcycle gang and unknowingly aids their crimes.
“Mork Man vs. Ork Man” (10/23/82) – When Mork accidentally breaks the
video game Orson sent him for his birthday, Mork uses his powers to fix it and
brings the main character to life.
“Which Witch is the Witch’ (10/30/82) – Orson sets Mork up with a
witch date who takes a fancy to Hamilton and gives him magical powers.
“Every Doing Has His Day” (11/6/82) – Mork plans to fake a robbery in
order to get Mr. McConnell to allow Doing back into the house.
“Beauty or the Beast” (11/13/82) – Mork attempts to use his powers to
heal Mindy’s bug bite before her beauty contest, but accidentally turns her
into a gorilla.
“Morkel and Hyde” (11/20/82) – Mork splits himself so he can be at two
places at once, unfortunately one of the Morks turns out to be evil.
“The Wimp” (11/27/82) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“Ride ‘em, Morkboy” (12/4/82) – The eggs Mork prepared for Orson ends
up being eaten by rodeo animals, which causes them to act uncharacteristically.
“Meet Mork’s Mom” (12/11/82) – When Mork’s parents are sent to Earth
for a meeting with the principal, they’re abducted by a wealthy man who
believes they’ve found the fountain of youth.
“Muddle in a Huddle” (12/18/82) – A rival football team feeds Mork’s
team his eggs so that they’ll play poorly.
“The Incredible Shrinking Mork” (12/25/82) – Mork shrinks himself,
Mindy and Doing in order to pursue a sewer rat that steals the principal’s
watch.
“The Invisible Mork” (1/8/83) – After challenging a bully to a
wrestling match for Mindy, Mork drinks a protein shake that activates an
allergy that turns him invisible.
“The Fluke Spook” (1/15/83) – A sudden rainstorm interferes with a
picnic outing and causes Mork, Mindy and friends to take refuge in a haunted
house.
“Mayhem for the Mayor” (1/22/83) – Mork and Mindy continue an injured
Fred’s campaign for mayor against the unscrupulous DuPonts.
“Coo Coo Caveboy” (1/29/83) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“A Treasure Ain’t No Pleasure” (2/5/83) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“The Mork with the Midas Touch” (2/12/83) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“Extra-Terrestrial Toddler” (2/19/83) – Mistaking a movie robot for an
Orkan creature, Mork zaps it back to Ork and he and Mindy have to retrieve it.
“Time Slipper Slip-Up” (2/26/83) – Mork uses his diamond slippers to
take him and Mindy back to ancient Egypt for their report.
“Super Mork” (3/5/83) – After screwing up on the school paper, Orson
grants Mork’s wish to be more like Superguy and sends him a super-powered suit.
“Mork P.I.” (3/12/83) – Mork becomes a private eye to prove he was
framed for stealing a test’s answers from the principal’s office.
“Monkey on My Back Pack” (3/19/83) – Mork inadvertently helps foreign
spies steal the Army’s new top secret rocket pack.
“On Your Mork, Get Set, Go!” (3/26/83) – When Mork accidentally
destroys the prize money for a race, he enters so that he can win and prevent
anyone from thinking Mindy stole it.
Actor, writer, director and producer Garry Marshall died on Tuesday. You can read the full story here.
Marshall created the 1950s nostalgia show Happy Days, which led to the spin-offs Laverne & Shirley and Mork & Mindy. Each show would go on to receive an animated spin-off on Saturday mornings: The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang, Laverne & Shirley in the Army, and Mork & Mindy.
